Haunted Host Club
by AgentOfAngst
Summary: After agreeing to be the test subject for a "haunted" version of the club room, Haruhi begins to feel a little more haunted than she anticipated. Everything in the club room was fake, but something's spooking her. Day 2 of 7 days of Halloween!


**For our next Halloween story, I'm returning to Ouran. It's been a while (nearly four years) since I wrote and watched/read Ouran High School Host Club, but I'm glad to be back for a spooky club! And some definitely not canon stuff.**

**Next up is Percy Jackson, then S.H.I.E.L.D., Avengers, Gravity Falls, and Over the Garden Wall. Enjoy!**

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"Alright, Haruhi, since you weren't here when we set up the haunted club room, so you're going to test it out for us," Kyoya said, knowing them would have accomplished something if they could scare the fearless-to-the-point-of-reckless Haruhi. Without playing to the one fear he knew she had, they'd made the clubroom as scary as they could. For one purpose, of course.

"If you want I'll come with you, protect you from the ghosts, comfort you if you get scared," Tamaki offered with a charming smile.

"Ghosts aren't real," Haruhi bluntly rejected the offer.

"Honey and Mori will escort you through the room. Have fun," Kyoya attempted his own charming smile and then opened the door.

Haruhi inhaled in surprise. The room was transformed. That really shouldn't surprise her, the room was transformed almost every day. But it always startled her, the lengths rich people would go for a bit of novelty. Shadows seemed to swirl around the room, creating a creepy atmosphere. Honey instinctively grabbed her hand, though she didn't know who was being comforted by the gesture. The floorboards didn't normally creak, but now they taunted all that entered. Haruhi could only assume that lighting and sound design would make this experience more intense. She expected thunder. There was none. That was nice.

"Are you scared?" Honey asked as they walked through the darkness, acting like he wasn't scared. He had Bun-Bun tucked under his other arm and was using Haruhi's hand as a bit of extra comfort, squeezing it a little. She squeezed back and glanced in Mori's direction. Stoic as usual. He looked unfazed by the loud crashes of sound and dramatic lighting. Haruhi briefly wondered if Mori liked this kind of thing, the gruesome and the detestable. It would be an interesting contrast to Honey's affection for cute things, but it seemed unlikely since Mori had his own notable soft spots.

"It's definitely offputting, but I don't think I'm scared."

"Oh. Me neither, then," Honey put on a brave face. She squeezed his hand again, letting him know it was okay to be afraid, and they soldiered on.

The timing was impeccable. The oozing blood was timed to appear for long enough so that when the fog began and the shadows grew creepier you'd experienced enough blood to be properly spooked. Haruhi was unsettled, but she didn't feel anything akin to fear until the whispers started.

_"Haruhi... Haruhi remember me... Remember what you've lost... Haruhi you must keep me alive..."_ A voice from beyond the grave. And not one she recognized. She shuddered and kept moving forward, a little confused as to why Mori and Honey hadn't reacted at all to the spectral voice. Her fears eased up a little when an actor jumped out at them, the last big scare of the room. Haruhi yelped a little, instinctively grabbing Mori's hand as well as Honey's, although quickly recognizing the actor and poking the serial killer mask with an eye roll.

"Kasanoda I know that's you," she accused with a laugh, letting herself remember that this was just a game, that none of this was real. It was just a spooky setting to make the club girls rush into the arms of the hosts.

"Ah, man, I thought I did well." Kasanoda looked disappointed.

"You were great," she promised, "it's not your fault I'm not easily scared." Mori raised an eyebrow at her.

"Okay, you got me a bit," she admitted.

"I knew it," he pulled off the mask and smiled at her, offering her a fist bump, which she returned. Then her hand dropped to her side, making no attempt at reaching for Mori's again. Not that Mori minded...

"The whispers were scarier," Haruhi mentioned as they exited, the rest of the club expectant.

"Whispers? Kasanoda did you whisper?" Tamaki asked, eyebrows furrowed in confusion. Kyoya hid his own confusion well, while Hikaru and Kaoru just looked at each other and then at Haruhi.

"No, you told me not to say anything except maybe scream at them at the end."

"You must have just heard things," Kyoya explained, "there's no whispering on the soundtrack."

"Hikaru, Kaoru, you must've done something because something said my name in there."

"That would've been funny, but we didn't think of it," Hikaru promised, eyeing his brother to make sure Kaoru wasn't hiding something. Kaoru displayed empty palms in agreement, a gesture of innocence.

"Mori, Honey, was it one of you?" Tamaki asked, now accusatory, because someone had scared his Haruhi! Who, in hindsight, he had just sent through a haunted club room. But he'd anticipated being the one to comfort her so that wasn't relevant!

"No," Mori and Honey both promised, looking at each other in confusion.

"I probably did just hear things," Haruhi accepted Kyoya's explanation because anything else was too weird, too supernatural, to be possible. That voice though. Was there a hint of familiarity in it? Was there something she should know, someone she should be remembering? Or was it just another creak in the floorboards? Something that might catch you off guard but in the end was ultimately harmless. Yeah, it was probably that. Harmless.

And then she started having dreams. They kept her awake at night, this hallucinated whisper demanding that she remember.

_"You have left me behind for too long, Haruhi. I will be abandoned no longer. Remember me!"_ Whispers turned to screams and they followed her wherever she went. But no one else ever heard the haunting shrieks. She alone faced this demon who became like a constant ringing in her ears until finally, out of desperation she demanded answers from the spirit, no longer quite believing that ghosts weren't real.

"Who are you?!" She whisper-shouted into the void of an empty house. Not quite empty though, was it?

_"Reach into your past, Haruhi. The one you lost. The one you left behind. The one you just forgot._" Oh. Her mother.

"I never forgot you!" Tears streamed down her face, she was desperate to rectify the situation and rid herself of this apparition.

_"I'm not who you think. I know you've forgotten me, I know!"_

"I just don't know who you are! I can't reach those memories, I don't remember!"

_"Oh Haruhi, it's been so long. I just wanted you to remember. To keep me alive, to take me with you. We used to be so happy. We used to do everything together.__" _He sounded so sad. It was a he, she realized that now. Blurry in her memories she saw the little boy who looked like her. The little boy she had done everything with, until the day he was gone.

"Izumi," It had been a long time since she and her father had spoken of him. After her mom died it was easier not to remember the little boy they'd lost as well. Her twin brother. Izumi.

"You remember." He sounded so happy.

"I'm so sorry I ever let myself forget..." She was ashamed of herself. He had been her best friend.

"It's okay, Haruhi. You needed to let me go, then. And if you need to let me go once more..." The sadness crept back into his voice. She couldn't see him but felt a presence.

"No. This time I'm keeping you with me."

The other hosts noticed a change in Haruhi's demeanor the next day. She had seemed so tired and stressed lately, nearly always on the verge of a breakdown. But she seemed so much happier, much lighter, as she walked the halls today.

"Welcome to Ouran, Izumi," she whispered to herself, "let me show you around."

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**So obviously the twin brother isn't canon. But I thought it was a fun idea. I hope you enjoyed! Sorry again about being rusty at writing for this fandom. **


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